Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included edits that omitted a part of the answer to the question about which foods Almirola would serve at a restaurant.

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Aric Almirola, who is in his fifth season driving for Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola is ranked 27th in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Saturday night's race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Q: What is an errand or chore in your daily life people might be surprised to learn you do yourself?

A: I do whatever it takes to make the house run smoothly. My wife, Janice, does a lot around the house to make sure everything is taken care of. So she takes a lot off my plate, but I help out where I can. Whether it’s getting the mail, helping with laundry, cooking, taking the garbage and recycling out — I usually make the kids help with that — there’s no chore or errand that I won’t do.

I’m just a normal guy. The public perception of drivers is we’re some sort of superheroes and we live this life of extravagance — and maybe some do — but for me, I’m just a normal guy who happens to be a race car driver.

Q: If you could do any race over again, which race would you choose?

A: Probably the October Kansas race of 2012. I had the fastest race car compared to the competition that I’ve ever driven. We led a bunch of laps (69) and legitimately had a shot to win that race. But we stayed out a little longer than we probably should have and blew a right-front tire while leading the race. So I’d want to have that one back.

Q: The longest race of the year is 600 miles. How long of a race could you physically handle without a driver change?

A: It all depends how your car is handling. If you’re competitive and you’re running up front and your car is handling good, I think you could run 1,000 miles and be fine, no problem. But if your car is a handful and you’re slipping and sliding all over the place and you’re not competitive, you really start to lose interest after about 500 or 600 miles. Your attention span might not be able to handle that.

Q: Let’s say president of NASCAR was an elected position voted on by the drivers — and you decided to run. What would one of your campaign promises be?

A: That we’ll only race every other week.

Q: At the start of this year, exactly 2,900 drivers had ever raced in the Sprint Cup Series. Where do you rank among those 2,900?

A: I’d say somewhere in the middle to slightly above average. I’m certainly not the best — just given my current results and circumstances — but I’m far better than the worst. Half of 2,900 is 1,450, so I’d say 1,000th.

Q: What do you think your reputation is — and is that reputation accurate?

A: People probably perceive me as a down-to-earth guy, a family guy, pretty soft-spoken but on the racetrack a pretty intense competitor who races tough. I race everybody how I want to be raced on the track. I don’t think anyone perceives me as a nuisance on the track, but I don’t think anyone thinks I’m easy to pass, either. And that’s fair.

So I’m perceived how I want to be perceived. I am who I am. I don’t put on a fake persona to try to get people to like me. But I do feel like I am a likable guy, just because I enjoy people, I enjoy getting to do what I love to do and I realize I’m blessed to be in the situation I am. I think people pick up on that.

Q: A famous chef wants you to invest in the new restaurant he’s opening, but he wants you to pick the cuisine. What type of food would your restaurant serve?

A: All farm-to-table. I’m really into that right now. I really love just eating straight from the earth and trying to do away with lab-designed food and things that have a shelf life of 10 years. I’ve been into eating more naturally.

You can do some pretty cool stuff with my sponsor, Smithfield. You can do bacon Brussels sprouts, bacon-wrapped pork loin, bacon and cauliflower — you can make really good heart-healthy dishes and still incorporate Smithfield bacon and Smithfield pork.

Q: What is the most daring thing you’ve done outside of racing?

A: Probably flying an F-16 fighter jet. I got to do a ride with an F-16 at Luke Air Force Base. That was probably the most exciting, exhilarating thing I’ve ever done aside from drive a race car.

I had the opportunity to jump out of an airplane when I drove the Army car. I was going to jump with the Golden Knights and I chickened out. I was pretty nervous, and they gave me some ridiculous statistic like out of 13,000 jumps they’d only had 80 injuries and no deaths. I was like, “That’s it. I’m not going. You just jinxed me right there.” So I didn’t do it.

Aric Almirola's best finish of 2016 came at the season-opening Daytona 500. He finished 12th.(Photo: Matthew O'Haren, USA TODAY Sports)

Q: In a move to generate more excitement, NASCAR decides in an upcoming race they’re going to require every driver to have a passenger in the car. You get to pick the passenger. Who do you choose?

A: I’d probably want my son Alex to ride with me. He gets so excited watching on TV. And when he rides in the backseat around home, he’s always saying, “Daddy, go fast!” But I also think it would be cool to let my grandfather ride in the passenger seat. I grew up watching my grandfather (Sam Rodriguez) run dirt sprint cars and I always looked up to him and admired him. He’s the reason I got involved in racing. So that would be pretty cool.

Q: How often do you talk inside the car without hitting the radio button?

A: Pretty regularly. Most of the time it's when you’re angry or upset, or you get mad at yourself. I’ll be like, “C’mon, focus!” or “Quit doing that!”

I’ve learned over the years I can say whatever I want inside the race car and it doesn’t hurt anybody’s feelings or take the morale of the race team down if you don’t push the button and let a rant go. That really affects the crew guys, because they’re working as hard as they can. They don’t want to run bad, either. Plus, my kids listen on the radio when they’re at the track. So I try to keep it somewhat under control. I do my best. Sometimes when we’re in the heat of battle, we’re pretty emotional and you can’t control it.

Q: Who will win the Sprint Cup in 2021?

A: I hope I’m still around and I hope we’ve got Richard Petty Motorsports turned around and heading in the right direction and we’ve gotten a lot more competitive in the next five years. I feel like given the right opportunities and the right equipment, I feel like I can win races and a championship. So I’d love to say in 2021, I’m your Cup champion.

Q: I’ve been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Ty Dillon, and he wanted to know since you grew up in Tampa but live in North Carolina, are you a Buccaneers fan or a Panthers fan?

A: I’m a Buccaneers fan. I’ve lived in North Carolina for 12 years now, but I just can’t do it. I was extremely happy for the city when the Panthers went on their run last year and to see how much everyone got behind the team. I was supportive of that.

But I’ve been a Bucs fan since I was a little kid. I used to go to Bucs games when they played at the old Sombrero (Tampa Stadium) and they wore orange and white. So I can’t let it go. I’m still a fan and I hope they get their team turned around. It’s been a rough couple of seasons. When they won the Super Bowl, I was in college at UCF (University of Central Florida) in Orlando. After they won, me and my roommates drove to downtown Tampa and we joined in the celebration.

And do you have a question for the next interview? I don’t know who it is yet.